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Stay Fit and Stay Loose with Yoga for Running.

If your muscles are tight and your tendons are sore, try yoga for running. I really should focus yoga more often because I don't stretch enough, and it helps me with relaxation.

Don't think of yoga as just another thing to do during stretching. There are so many other benefits. If you aren't sure about yoga, you could also try a similar stretching activity called Pilates. Both are really great ways to cross train. Yoga can help runners in three major areas. As always here at tips4running, I will give you the quick list, and then expand upon each part. Before you read on, you can compare prices of yoga and pilates equipment here.

Are you hanging around for the explanations? Outstanding! Knowledge is power. Let's see why yoga is so good for a runner.

1. Running is a high impact exercise. Your muscles, tendons, joints, and bones can suffer from the constant pounding of a run. Every stride you take exerts more than triple the amount of force than your body weight. You need keep your body loose and limber or else you could suffer a running injury.

Yoga focuses on stretching and strengthening muscles and tendons. Think of yoga as super stretching. You are not only making your muscles and tendons looser, but they also are gaining strength and stability. Now your body will be better balanced to handle the pounding of a run.

2. Yoga is super stretching because you get the benefits of stretching, plus yoga gets your heart rate up. Performing and holding some of the poses takes a lot of energy. This is great because you are gaining aerobic strength.

Many runners will do yoga on easy work out days, or just do yoga and not run that day. Doing a cross training workout besides a run is always a good idea. It will keep you fresh on your runs. You can prevent boredom by not doing the same fitness activity all the time.

3. A huge focus of most yoga classes is learning how to relax your body and mind. You do have to focus on relaxing because this helps you to stretch and hold different poses more effectively. Learning to relax can cross over and help you immensely during a run.

Running relaxed is a learned skill. You actually can run much faster if you master the ability to push yourself to run fast, but keep your muscles loose and fluid. Running requires you to take in a lot of oxygen. Your muscles need to process this oxygen so you can keep running fast. When you strain and tighten up your muscles, the oxygen doesn't get to your muscles as fast as it should. Relaxing your mind and body can help you to stay running fast without extra strain.

There you have it. Yoga for running is a great idea to help you prevent injury, stay fit, and relax your mind and body. Now get out there and stretch it to the limit.